Peek Into a Wooden Mast Reveals Wind Power’s Towering Future
Lumber could help drive down costs and carbon emissions of wind turbines
Inside a wood wind turbine tower from Swedish company Modvion.
Photographer: Paul Wennerholm / Modvion AB
Standing nearly 100 feet tall on the rocky shore of the island Bjorko in southwest Sweden, a white wind tower looks indistinguishable from thousands of similar tubes that help generate clean energy all over the world. But inside is another story.
The interior of the tower is a tableau of creamy white boards, soaring into the air like a hollowed-out tree trunk. It’s a total redesign of the classic steel turbine tower from Swedish company Modvion AB, which says it can cut costs for the renewable power industry and dramatically reduce the sector’s output of greenhouse gases.